He's unbeatable: Oxx colt is special just like Nashwan, insists Carson

Willie Carson believes there isn’t a horse around capable of lowering the colours of Investec Derby winner Sea The Stars.

The four-time Derby winning jockey turned BBC pundit was on board Nashwan, who 20 years ago was the last colt to land the 2,000 Guineas-Derby double.

But after Sea The Stars, ridden by Mick Kinane, had emulated him, Carson said the John Oxx-trained colt need only fear unsuitable ground or track. Given his unflappable demeanour and easy glide around Tattenham Corner, Sea The Stars won’t have to worry about any of the European courses.

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Brilliant Stars: Mick Kinane seals a Classic double on Sea The Stars in Saturday’s Derby but a Triple Crown bid has been ruled out

But had the half inch of rain that arrived on Saturday night to turn
the going to good to soft come earlier, it might have been more serious
for the 11-4 shot.

Carson said: ‘I would imagine that no other horse is going to beat
him. Ground or a racecourse would be the only way. Nashwan was a
special horse and this is a special horse. In fact, Nashwan used to get
himself in a bit of a stew, but this guy is so laidback with so much
ability and speed to burn.

‘He is bred right, is in the right hands and got the right jockey on him. If not quite a
certainty for the Derby, I thought he would definitely win.

‘Nowadays, with the specialist milers being bred, they tend to always win the Guineas and cannot go on to take the Derby.

‘The Triple Crowntype animal doesn’t come along too often. That is why Sea The
Stars is so good with the pace to win the 2,000 Guineas and the stamina to win the Derby.’

The omens before the race had backed evidence of his talent in the
Guineas on the Rowley Mile on May 2. This, after all, is the Chinese
year of the Ox, a neat tie in to both
the winning trainer and home of 27-year-old Hong Kong-based owner Christopher Tsui.

The winning trophy was also appropriate, a bronze of trainer Arthur
Budgett with his sibling winners, Blakeney (1969) and Morston (1973),
both sons of dam Windmill Girl. She is now joined as producer of two
Epsom winners by Sea The Stars’ late Arc-winning dam Urban Sea, also
the mother of 2001 scorer Galileo, who had been
Kinane’s second Derby winner.

When the jockey, who was winning his third on Saturday just a
fortnight before his 50th birthday, said before the race, ‘You can beat
a lot of things, but you can’t beat breeding’, he had been spot on.

Galileo’s win was achieved with a minimum of fuss, and Sea The Stars
was always in his comfort zone, with Aidan O’Brien’s six runners not
setting the breakneck stamina test most anticipated.

Kinane, playfully mock-strangled by former boss O’Brien afterwards,
said: ‘It went according to plan. It is not easy to turn up on a
favourite for a Derby and every step of the way think you are going to
win.

‘I was just a bit worried that he was over-racing a bit, they were
just going a little too slow for his liking. I knew he was a lot pacier
than Galileo. It is a very special horse that can carry that pace
through a Derby.’

For Oxx, Sea The Stars underlined a reputation for no-nonsense
precision training. A record of three Derby runners now reads two wins,
thanks to Sinndar (2000) and a
third with Alamshar in 2003.

The trainer all but ruled out a shot at the Triple Crown with the St
Leger, and his next move will be either the Irish Derby at The Curragh
on June 28 or the Coral Eclipse at Sandown a week later.

That would leave the Leger seemingly at O’Brien’s mercy. The best of
his Epsom sextet, 9-4 favourite Fame And Glory, captured second, with
Masterofthehorse third, Rip Van Winkle fourth and Golden Sword fifth,
all separated by less than a length. No wonder Johnny Murtagh had such
a struggle deciding who to ride.

To add to a frustrating day for their Coolmore Stud owners, with the
winner’s sire Cape Cross on the books of arch-rival Sheik Mohammed’s
Darley Stud, their Dunkirk was narrowly beaten by Summer Bird in the
Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the US Triple
Crown. Their massed support of the Derby, however, ensured that conqueror Sea The Stars could be hailed such a classy winner.